The Simpsons Ride (USH)

[William]

I, personally, don't expect any announcement about improved projections. I just have a feeling it'll be one of those things you notice one day when actually riding it.

 

[Jon Fu]

Projectors are already 4K, so that's not the issue. What's really needed is projectors capable of brighter output. The current system is a bit dull compared to what's currently available in the commercial market.

 

[Allen The Actor]

Yeah, they're basically the first gen 4k projectors of 2008.

I think the very dull colors and lack of brightness and cheap looking animation is what takes away from the projectors being "4k". They don't take advantage of the resolution IMO.

Funny then...the overall resolution of the Simpsons image is greater than 4k then, right Jon? There are, what, 3 or 4 projectors making up the entire image? And if each is 4k, that's a very large resolution of image. I think the relatively basic and cheap looking animation is what makes it seem less than ideal. BTTF restored would've benefited from multiple 4k projectors very much, as there was so much detail in the film.

But when/if they do switch it, it should be a relatively easy fix. Just switch out the projectors, recalibrate them to work together, and do some testing. I hope they get on it ASAP.

(If it were up to me, I'd completely redo the animation and make it higher quality and more detailed. Right now it looks like a 2008 era PC game...)

 

[Jon Fu]

Funny then...the overall resolution of the Simpsons image is greater than 4k then, right Jon? There are, what, 3 or 4 projectors making up the entire image? And if each is 4k, that's a very large resolution of image. I think the relatively basic and cheap looking animation is what makes it seem less than ideal. BTTF restored would've benefited from multiple 4k projectors very much, as there was so much detail in the film.

Yes, just like certain portions of Transformers, the overall image is much higher than 4K when you blend all four projectors together (the canvas is more important than the individual parts).


That being said, I suspect that just because the projectors are capable of display an individual 4K segment doesn't necessarily mean they're being fed separate 4K streams. It's the source material that could be the problem coupled with the projector's low output.

 

[Allen The Actor]

Yeah, definitely has to be the source material and low brightness projectors. Those are the issues.

I wish they could just completely update the Simpsons footage.

 

[Chris]

Simpsons tried to pull a Kong Encounter overhaul the other day...

 

[Allen The Actor]

Simpsons tried to pull a Kong Encounter overhaul the other day...

You mean it almost burned down?

Whataya mean?

 

[Chris]

You mean it almost burned down?

Whataya mean?

The dream came close...

Let's say that only one dome is operating at the current time when I visited yesterday.

 

[steve]

Okay Chris, I read you loud and clear. BTTF is going on the other dome for the 2015 anniversary!

Oh God am I a sad excuse for a being...

 

[Allen The Actor]

The dream came close...

Let's say that only one dome is operating at the current time when I visited yesterday.

Interesting that this is the first time something like this happened in the buildings 21 year history. I wonder what happened. Hopefully they'll take this time to refurbish and update the attraction in time for Springfield.

Okay Chris, I read you loud and clear. BTTF is going on the other dome for the 2015 anniversary!

Oh God am I a sad excuse for a being...

As "impractical" as that is, it was always my dream for them to split the attraction and in a sense market it as two separate attractions...somehow. lol

 

[steve]

Well my idea wasn't a permanent thing, but instead just for the 2015 off season. Just a dream though. I doubt it would ever happen.

 

[techmaniac16]

I was riding the other day and I noticed that the cars now seem to have screens for subtitles. Was this new? 'Cause I never seen subtitle displayed until recently. Can anyone comment on that?

 

[Jon Fu]

^ There's a few vehicles equipped with closed captioning.

 

[techmaniac16]

^ There's a few vehicles equipped with closed closed captioning.

I see. Thanks for the info. 

 

[Chris]

The wheelchair accessible vehicles have the subtitles.  This would be car 8 on level 2 for both domes.

 

[techmaniac16]

The wheelchair accessible vehicles have the subtitles.  This would be car 8 on level 2 for both domes.

Ahh, that makes sense. My friend and I went through Gate A the other day so maybe that is why. 

 

[Allen The Actor]

Just had a random flashback for some reason. I remember before the ride opened, a few clips leaked on YouTube from a team member of the ride being tested, and it featured rough cuts/early rendered footage of the ride scenes, very rough animation. One specific clip that stayed around the longest was of the big ball that never finished high school. Universal removed it super fast though.

Makes me wonder if Supercharged didn't have 100% finished footage during the early employee testing? Although that wouldn't make sense to preview a ride that relies on projections with unfinished projections.

 

[Wesker69]

Here are two pics of The Simpsons Ride from Sunday night while at HHN...

 

[Freak]

^An empty queue for the Simpsons Ride? You NEVER see that during the day.

 

[Allen The Actor]

Doc stopped selling tickets at the gate.